Maestra Unsuk Chin was born in Seoul in 1961 and started playing the piano and studying in music theory as a kid.She studied under Sukhi Kang at Seoul National University and was featured as a pianist at the Pan Music Festival, and in 1984 her composition Gestalten (Figures) gave her the special distinction of being selected for the ISCM World Music Days in Canada and for the UNESCO ‘Rostrum for Composers.’ In 1985, she flew to Europe on a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service, translated as the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). Until 1988, she studied under György Ligeti in Hamburg, Germany.Since then, she has been living in Berlin, Germany while composing at the Electronic Music Studio of the Technical University Berlin, or Technische Universität Berlin in German.

In 2001, Maestra Chin was invited by the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin (DSO) to serve as a visiting composer. The piece she composed at that time was her Violin Concerto, which brought her the acclaimed Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition in 2004 and secured a seat for her with such esteemed composers as Ligeti György Sándor, Toru Takemitsu, Tan Dun and Pierre Boulez, who had won the award ahead of her.

The Violin Concerto’s official premiere took place in January 2002 with the violinist Vivianne Hagner and conductor Kent Nagano, following local performances in Korea and Finland. Its premiere in the UK took place in February 2004.

She also became the 2005 winner of the Arnold Schoenberg Prize, which has the highest authority as a prize to be granted to living composers. Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, noted Chin as one of the five composers to lead the orchestra into the 21st century.

Unsuk Chin’s compositions have been performed at numerous music festivals and concert stages around the world. Among her works, the most widely performed is Akrostichon-Wortspiel, Acrostic Wordplay in English, for solo soprano and ensemble. It has been performed by famous ensemblesof 15 nations, among which are the Ensemble Modern conducted by George Benjamin, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Simon Rattle, New Ensemble of Amsterdam, Ictus Ensemble, LA Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra. Other works include Fantaisie mécanique and Xi, both composed at the commission by the Ensemble Intercontemporain; the orchestral work santika Ekatala, premiered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra; ParaMetaString, commissioned by the Kronos Quartet; a Piano Concerto composed for the pianist Rolf Hind; Miroirs des tempswritten for the Hilliard Ensemble and the London Philharmonic at the commission by the BBC; and Kala co-commissioned by the Danish Radio Symphony, the Göthenburg Symphony and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestras. In particular, Kala, which is for soloists, chorus and orchestra, was premiered in March 2001, under the baton of Peter Eötvös.

Chin’s works are exclusively published by Boosey & Hawkes, the biggest music publisher in the world.